Feb. 9, 2002
Box Score
PISCATAWAY, N.J. - On Saturday, Feb 9, in Piscataway, N.J., the Villanova women's basketball team pulled away down the stretch, led by the three-point shooting of junior guard Trish Juhline, to go on to a 49-43 victory over Rutgers. With the victory, the Wildcats improve to 13-9 overall and 7-4 in Big East Conference play. The Scarlet Knights fall to 7-15 overall and 4-7 in conference action with Saturday's loss.
Villanova raced out to a 10-4 lead six minutes into the game. Rutgers followed by going on a 14-0 run to take an 18-10 lead with 7:26 remaining in the first half. The Scarlet Knights took a 28-23 advantage into intermission.
The Wildcats started the second half strong, cutting the Rutgers lead to two points, 31-29, at the 16:30 mark. From that point, neither team would score until the 12:55 mark when a three-pointer by sophomore forward Courtney Mix gave Villanova its first lead of the second half, 32-31.
Juhline took over from there, making four straight three-pointers on four consecutive possessions to increase the Wildcat advantage to 44-34 with 9:45 remaining.
The Scarlet Knights trimmed the Villanova lead to 45-43 on a conventional three-point play by Davalyn Cunningham. Wildcat guard Mimi Riley gave Villanova a 47-43 lead on a jump hook in the lane with 1:28 left in the contest. After a defensive stop, the `Cats scored on an out-of-bounds play as Riley got a wide-open layup to help Villanova pull away for a 49-43 victory.
Leading the Wildcats on offense was Juhline who scored 16 points on five-of-12 from field and five-of-11 shooting from three points range. Riley also scored in double figures for Villanova with 11 points in her first game back since sustaining a sprained ankle against Syracuse.
Other offensive keys for the `Cats were junior forward Nicole Druckenmiller who scored nine points on three three-pointers, and Mix who posted eight points, seven rebounds, five assists and three steals.
Villanova shot 18-of-50 from the field in the game, and 10-of-27 from three-point range. The Wildcats were out-rebounded 37-28, but only committed eight turnovers. It was the seventh time in the last nine games that Villanova had single-digit turnovers. The Wildcats have also hit 80 three-pointers in the last seven games.
